Heretofore it has been well known to provide carriers with pods for shipping of prepasted brackets such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,978,007 and particularly in FIGS. 9 and 11. The embodiment in FIG. 9 shows the prepasted bracket engaging the bottom of the pod while the embodiment of FIG. 11 shows the prepasted bracket having an alignment device or a jig connected to the bracket to suspend the bracket above the base of the pod so that the adhesive on the back of the bracket does not touch the bottom of the pod. Other prior art patents showing the packaging of a prepasted bracket in a pod include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,979,611; 5,221,202; 5,328,363; 5,348,154; 5,538,129; 5,762,192; 6,960,079; 7,381,053; and 7,726,470.
With respect to prior known carriers with pods wherein the prepasted bracket engages the bottom of the pod it is always possible to leave a portion of the bonding material in the pod when removing the bracket from the pod and in those cases insufficient bonding material is left on the bracket base to properly bond an appliance to the tooth of a patient.
With respect to carriers having pods where the bracket is supported and suspended from the bottom by means of a jig or an alignment device, there are many clinicians that do not like to have a jig mounted on the bracket when transferring the bracket from a pod to a tooth. It is preferred to just have the bracket jigless which would facilitate speed of mounting the bracket on a tooth and not having to remove the jig from the bracket once it is on a tooth. Sometimes that becomes an issue relative to the proper placement of a bracket on a tooth. Particularly, when the adhesive is uncured.
It is also been known to provide a pod where the bracket is spaced from the very bottom of the pod by virtue of upstanding ridges as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,202, but this pod is objectionable inasmuch as it does not include stabilizing tabs within the pod in order to assist in preventing the bracket from moving along the projections and disturbing the bonding material and the base of the appliance.